Adjustable shelf bracket



United States Patent [45] Patented Dcc.29,1970

[5 4] ADJUSTABLE SHELF BRACKET 2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 248/242,

108/6, 108/l08;248/291 [51] Int. Cl E04g 3/08 [50] Field ofSearch248/235,

FOREIGN PATENTS 42,125 5/1933 France 248/242 633,682 2/1962 ltaly248/243 Primary Examiner- Roy D. Frazier Assistant Examiner-J. FranklinFoss Attarney-Fishburn, Gold and Litman ABSTRACT: An adjustable shelfbracket is removably attachable to an elongated support secured to awall structure wherein the support has a plurality of vertically spacedslots and a bracket member has a plurality of vertically spaced hooksadapted to be received within the slots. A bifurcated arm has one endthereof pivotally mounted on the bracket member which has a plurality ofratchet teeth on a periphery thereof. A bell crank pawl is pivotallymounted between spaced plates forming the bifurcated arm and has aplurality of ratchet teeth on an end of one arm adapted to be moved intointerengagement with the ratchet teeth on the periphery of the bracketin response to a resilient member positioned in engagement with anotherarm of the bellcrank shaped pawl.

PATENTED BECZQ I978 nlllllll llllllinllllllllIIHHHIIIIHHHHH 1 .m "aw [NVENT! )R. CHARLES E SCOTT ATTORNEYS Aoiusranu: sum BRACKETThisinvention' relates to an adjustable bracket of the type forsupporting shelves'and the like and is particularly adaptable to beremovably attached to a support and be adjusted in a desired positionhorizontally of the support or at an angle I therefrom. V o d Theprincipal object of the present invention is to provide a h'lhe hooks-l2and 13 are of a'length that the combined length of the hook portion 14and Hand the straight portion 15' of the hook will easily be insertedthrough the openings 5 and be retained therein by engaging against theinside lti of the wall 4 ofthe supports.

Elongated arms 17 and 18 are providedfor pivotal at- I tachment to thebrackets 7 andB. Each of the arms are identishelf of this character fordisplaying articles of merchandise or forplacement of articles in adecorative purposes. v yd Other objects of the present invention are toprovide supports having a .bar portion outwardly of a'wall and securedtohome for easy access or for having the hook portion turned downwardlyand the brackets I having a semicircular portion outwardly of saidhooks; to pro vide arms for pivotal attachment to said-brackets; saidarms having spaced ends which provide a bifurcated portionfor en-.gaging on. each side of the" brackets and having openings aligned withopenings in the brackets for attachment thereto by a pin or the like;and to provide the" semicircular portion of the brackets with serratedor ratchet teeth;

Still. further objects of thepresent invention are to provide betweenthe bifurcated portion of the arms apawl-or the like having setratedorratchet teeth for engagement with the serrated or ratchet teeth onthe-bracket, said pawl being substantially of bellcrank. shape andpivotally mounted on the arms,

in engagement with the ratchet teeth o'n'the bracket; andto provide thelonger arm of the pawl with a-portion extending below the arm when theteeth are engaged with the bracket so i that to disengage the teeth thepawl ma'yfbe engaged and moved upwardly against the resilientmembers torelease the ratchet teeth from the bracket teeth to. adjustthe arm tothedesired height; to provide the outer end of the arms .with a shoulderportion; to provide a shelf for, engagement on the arms; and to providea device of economical to manufacture.

with the accompanying drawings wherein are-set forth by way ofillustration and example certain embodiments of this invention.

FIG. I is a perspective view, partly diagrammatic showing the shelfmechanism attached to a walI-orthe like. f

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on 'a line 2 2, FIG. 3,particularly illustrating the ratchet and pawl arrangement and theremovable attachment of the brackets to the support.

FIG. 3 is a partly cross-sectional plan view taken on a line 3-3,Fig.2.'f I FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view through the armshowing the shelf in slightly downwardly inclined position Referringmore in detail to the drawings, I and 2 designate 5 plates 19 and 20 aretapered outwardly from the outer ends having the longerarm' portionsextending rearwardly ofthe 1 arms and away from said bracket; to provideresilient means engaging the longer arm of the pawl to urge the ratchetteeth this character simple and particularly as illustrated'in FIG. 2,and be pressing upwardly I I cal so only one will be described. The arms17 and I8 consist "of two identical plates 19 and '20 spaced apart atthe larger end 21 and angled inwardly towards the supports at a point asindicated at 22. The larger ends of the plates have alignedopenings 22(FIG. 2) and the brackets haveopenings 23 for receiving a pin 24 forpivotally mounting the arms to the 1 brackets. The outer ends 25 of the.arms are secured together by-welding or other suitable means asindicatedat 26 and have, an upwardly extending portion or shoulder 27.Each of the so that the inward or pivoted ends are substantially largeras indicated at 28. l r

and 30 spaced from the tapered end thereof, and located between saidplates is a pawl or bellcrank member 31' having an opening 32 aligningwith the. openings 29 and 30 and secured between the plates 19 and 20 bya pin 33 and thereby pivotally mounting the pawlbetween the plates. Thepawl or bellcrank member has a short portion 34.-and a longer portion35. The short portion 34 is provided with ratchet teeth or serrations asindicated at 36 mating with thejs errations or ratchet teeth ll on-thebracket. Spaced rearwardly from the pin' 32,

, and substantially a distance equal tothe length of the arm por tion 35of the pawl 31, and between the plates 19 and 20 isa pin 37 around whicha coiled wire spring 38 is mounted having one free end 39 engagingagainst the surface of the pawl 31- and its otherfreeend against a pin41 spaced upwardly of the pin 37 and both pins being mounted between theplates 19 and 20 so that the arm 39 of the springs will urge the pawlsinto engagement with the brackets 7. and 8.

The upper edges 42 of the arms 17 and :18 are plane and adapted toreceive a shelf member 43 thereon, the outerside edge 44 thereofengaging against the shoulder 45 of the upturned portion 27 of the arms17 and 18. i

Other objects and advantages ofthis invention will become dwhen' it isdesired) adjust the'amgle of the w apparent from the followingdescription taken in connection respect to the support, it will benoticed that the lower portion 46 extends below the lower edge 47 of thearms 17 and IS,

on the pawl by the fingers or hand against the tension of the spring 38,the pawl will be released from the brackets 7 and 8 ous that by removalof the shelf 43 the arms may be dropped to a considerably lower positionthan that shown in FIG .4,

' although the limit of the slope of the arms up or down will belimited, to the angle as indicated at 48 to the pivoted end of thearmsQThe brackets may be disengaged from the. supports supports forattachment to a wall or'the like 3. The supports are here shown to besubstantially square in shape, although I do not wish to be limited toany desired type of support. Each support has an outer wall 4 withspaced openings or. notches 5. The supports may be attached to the wallin any suitable manner such as by screws or the like 6 (FIG. 2).

' Brackets 7 and ,8 are provided for attachment to the supports 4 and 5,and as the brackets are identical, only onewill be described.Thebrackets have a body portion 9 with a semicircular or periphery 10, aportion thereof being provided with ratchet teeth or serrations ll.Theopposite sides of the brackets, or extended oppositely to the.ratchet teeth, are

books will pass outwardly therethrough.

merely by raising the brackets in the openings 5 until the It will beobvious from the foregoing that] have provided an improved adjustableshelf which may be quickly and easily attached to a wall structure andone on which the arms may be adjusted to a desired elevation and alsoone which may be dis- 1 engaged from the supports for storage or use inother places.

hooks l2 and 13 with the hook portions l4'and 15 turned downwardly inthe same directions and adapted to engage alignment with each other, asshown later.

It is to be understood that while I have illustrated and described oneform of my invention, it is not to be limited to the specific form orarrangement of partsherein described and shown except insofar as suchlimitations are included in the claims. I

1. An adjustable shelf structure comprising:

a. a plurality of laterally spaced elongated vertically exte ndingsupports attached to a wall structure, said supports each having a wallportion spacd'from said wall structure and having a plurality ofvertically spaced slots in said wall portion;

The plates 19 and '20 are providedwithaligned openings 29 ends of therespective arm thereto;

, b. a plurality of bracket members each having a pair of verticallyspaced hooks adapted to extend through respective slots in respectivesupports for removably mounting said bracket members on said supports,said hooks each having depending portions adapted to engage an insidesurface of the wall portion of said respective support, said bracketmembers each being planar members having a substantially semicircularouter peripheral edge provided with a plurality of ratchet teeth;

a bifurcated arm for each bracket member, each arm having a pair ofplate members secured together at one end and spaced apart at the otherend;

. a pin secured to and extending between said pair of plate membersadjacent the spaced apart-ends of each arm, each pin being received inan opening'in said respective bracket member for pivotally attaching thespaced apart a planar bellcrank shaped pawl pivotally mounted betweensaid plate members of each arm, said pawl being pivotally mountedintermediate opposite ends thereof and havinga plurality of ratchetteeth on an end of one arm of the pawl for interengaging with saidratchet teeth on said respective bracket member, said pawl having aportion of the other arm thereof extending below said iplate members ofsaid respective arm; and i f. a resilient member mounted between saidplate members of each arm and having one portion engaging an upper edgeof the other arm of said pawl for urging said respec- 2. The adjustableshelf structure set forth in claimi-l wherein: 1' p a. said resilientmember isa coil spring sleeved on a pine xtending betweensaid platemembers-of said bifurcated arm; l

. said coil spring has arms extending therefrom for bearing against saidupper edge .of the other arm of said pawl and for bearing against saidmember mounted between said plate members and spaced above the,otherarmtof said pawl; 1

. said one arm of saidpawl is shorter than said other arm thereof; and

.said pin having saideoil spring sleeved thereon is spaced from thepivotal mounting of said pawl a' distance substantially equal to thelength of said one arm of saidpawl.

